Phillips 66PSXTOP PICKSep 26, 2016Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 10, 2026. Market Open.
Warren Buffett has been picking away at this. It is very difficult to build a refinery. There is a limited number of competitors, so they are well situated. The drawback is that you are beholden to crack spreads, basically the value of all the different components of a barrel of oil after it has been refined. In the past couple of years, it has been a very, very good business, but it is a cyclical business. The ways the composition of crude oil is coming to refineries is changing. He would prefer going to where the greatest value is, which is going to be the crude producers.
They are the biggest independent refiner. They are doing some internal restricting to get down to only 30 percent refining. It’s a good opportunity to buy for the longer term.